Off to build a shed

We bought a 10 foot by 14 foot shed that we are building upstairs on the deck. I will fit perfectly into the corner and we will be able to put all of our stuff away into it. We don't have any room to really store stuff that isn't accessible to little hands. This will solve that issue. So off to build!! Will come back and post pictures when I am done!!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas 2006!!!!!!!

In Elmore tradition all the kids got new pj's for Christmas and then headed off to bed to await Christmas morning. Rod had duty the night before so once they got up we waited for him to get home. This is the whole family on Christmas morning.

I think the kids were excited about what they got.

Taniyah liked her new baby. She layed there with her arm over the box for quite a while because Rod wouldn't open it for her.

The last picture is one of my favorite pictures.

Happy Birthday Taniyah!!

Today my baby turned TWO!! Two years ago today I was in the hospital having her, Ahma & Poppa had arrived late the night before and the kids were all home with them. I was SO ready to have her after making it all the way to 39 weeks! The longest I had made it up to that point! Here she is at two hours and 4 minutes old.Boy has she grown in the last two years! She may never be a towering giant but.......she's still cute and such a blessing to us! She's funny, smart, loving, kind and is very much a Momma's girl! Here she is with her present from Destini!

She has really gotten into role playing. She loves to play with babies and kitchen stuff so for her birthday we got her a Dora kitchen. She loved it.

And last but certainly not least. She is such a girly girl! She LOVES the color pink, dress up shoes, purses, necklaces and frilly dresses that she can spin in. It's no suprise then that she LOVED the new blanket set that Ahma and Poppa got her for her birthday! She promptly took it out of the package and needed her picture with it! She kept posing in front of it and then running to look at the picture, before running back to pose again!

Makkiah's Awards Assembly

Today Makkiah got an Academic Award at the awards ceremony. He got it because he is reading at the level that he should be at when he leaves kindergarten. I am so proud of him. Before the assembly started he wasn't so sure why he was sitting up on the stage, he looks kind of scared!

I had to go up on the stage with him when he recieved his award so I didn't get any pictures of him getting his award. I had to take it when we got home this evening.

GO MAKKIAH!!

Kindergarten Christmas Program

The two kindergarten classes (both am and pm) did a little Christmas program for all the parents tonight.

They sang a variety of songs and said several cute little poems. It was really nice.
Made me think about the Christmas programs I did when I was in school!

Afterwards Rod took pictures of Makkiah in his hat outside of the school.

And Taniyah in Makkiah's elf hat.

Angie's Memorial Service

Angie's service last night was beautiful. When you first walked in the door there was a beautiful collage of pictures that showed her at different stages in her life.

As I walked down the hallway Angie's birthmom came out and hugged me. We stood for several minutes, two mothers feeling each others pain at the loss of this innocent life. No words needed to be exchanged as the message between us was clear.

She introduced me to more of the family and to her friends. I was so glad to see so many people there. Angie's teachers from Headstart, people from our church who had been a part of her life, her family, people who loved her, even the detective who sat by her bedside the day that she was in the hospital. I would say that there was at least 80 people there. The seats were filled, the back of the room was filled and there were people standing out in the hallway and foyer. She was defiently a very loved little girl!

Rod did the opening prayer and the first words to the family. I also got up and spoke about Angie. It was not easy but I had prayed all the way there that God would give me the strength and He is ever faithful. I went up to speak and her birthmother joined me at the podium. I let everyone there know how special she was and told them not to let her memories fade. She touched each person in the room with her life, although short, she had an impact on them. Her birthmom spoke after me and even introduced me to everyone as Angie's other Mom.

I am so very thankful that God gave our family the opportunity to share in her life. I am blessed that He allowed her to stop bu our house, to touch us, to impact us, to be a part of who we are. I am thankful that Our Father in heaven chose our family to care for one of His special angels. We love you Angie. You will live on in our hearts, our minds and our lives forever.

Funeral services have finally been scheduled

Featheringill Mortuary

6322 El Cajon Blvd. 92115

December 11, 2006

6pm

Some only Dream of Angels, I held one in my arms!

Fly Free Sweet Angel!!

(To view slideshow click on picture)

My beautiful Angie

We received the most horrifying news last night while watching the local news. Our beautiful, happy, healthy Angie was murdered. She was taken from our home and placed into a forever family that was supposed to love her, cherish her and protect her. That did not happen. Our little girl died by herself on Sunday and nobody found out anything until Tuesday by watching the news. My baby is in a better place where no one can hurt her anymore. I don't pretend to know why this happened but I will make sure that she gets justice and is not forgotten.

To my beautiful little girl,

You were loved by us with all of our hearts. You were rocked, held, loved and we are blessed to have had you touch our lives. You will live on in our hearts and memories forever. We love you baby girl!!!

GiftTRAP

I got an e-mail on my FLickr account from a company that wanted permission to use one of my photos in a game.

The website to the game is:GiftTRAP

The photo that they want to use is this one:



If they decide to use it they will give me credit for the picture in the game and I will get a free copy of the game. How exciting!!

New Stools!

The stools that we had started to make marks in our new vinyl.

I tried putting the felt pieces on the bottom of them but it didn't work.

At Big Lots the other day I found some nice stools on clearance for $20 marked down from $70.

I bought three of them and brought them home.

I put the first one together and it was perfect!

Put the next one together and it was 5 inches higher than the first one!

Looked at the box of the third one and it was 5 inches higher as well. So I had one 24" and two 29". The 29" ones were too high SO I loaded the two stools that were to high in the van along with Taniyah and Makkiah.

Went back to Big Lots and discovered that they had no more of the 24" stools in the style that I had bought SO I traded the two 29" stools for two 24" stools of a different style.

Came home and they were totally different! Two different colors, backs, and seats.

SO I loaded the first stool that I had put together in the van and took it back to Big Lots and traded it in SO in the end I have three matching stools!

Someday I will get motivated and restain them to match the cabinets BUT that won't be soon! I have to say that they aren't bad for less than $100 including stools and the cushions that I bought!

Noah's Ark

The underwater room is completed so we have moved on to our next project - the nursery.

We are doing the nursery at the church in a Noah's Ark theme.

We took out a door and sink and drywalled over the openings so that there is more space in the room. Now the room has one door and one sink!

Then we painted the grass and sky.

Now we are painting the animals and the ark.

So far I the elephants


Kangaroos


Tigers


Giraffes


Are done!

The ark and bears are almost done:


When we get more done I will update about it again!

Trip to the ER

Sat and Sunday Taniyah was acting like her neck hurt. She wasn't wanting to move it from side to side and occassionally didn't want to move it up and down. We gave her motrin and it seemed to help.

I figured that if she wasn't better by Monday I would make an appt at the clinic for her.

Monday morning she woke up and would not put her head down. I called the appt line and they had no appts but recommended that I take her to the ER as it had progressed to the point of not moving her head at all. They said that if she injured her neck they would not be able to facilitate treating her.

So off to the ER we headed, I called Rod, Marsha and Mom to let them know that I was taking her in. Rod told me that he was transferring peirs and would not be able to come up until after he moored at the new pier. Marsha told me to let her know what was going on as she was stuck at work but would get Will if need be. Mom talked to me the rest of the way to downtown and reminded me to take a picture. Luckily I had a camera in the glovebox so I got one before heading inside.



This is how she rode all the way to the ER. Shw would not put her head down. We got there and it was empty. They took us right back and assured me that it probably was just a muscle spasm.

They asked lots of questions, looked her over from head to toe, back and front, asked more questions, looked her over again and then decided to get some x-rays of her neck. Their two main concerns were the nasal discharge from her nose as they said it could be the sign of an abcess in her neck. The other concern was a fracture of her vertebra.

Had the xrays done and waited. The best part of being in the ER - NOT! After waiting I was told that the xrays looked normal and we were waiting for a final read. After another wait they changed their minds. The radiologist thought he saw something suspicious looking on her C1 and C2. He wanted a CT scan done so they put in an IV and she fell asleep. While sleeping they taped a rolled up towel around her neck so that she couldn't move it. They decided that she did so well getting the iv in (it was solely for the sedation to do the CT scan) and the fact that she was asleep that we would try to do the scan without sedation. If we could do it without sedation then we wouldn't have to wait the 7 hours since she last ate.

So we headed up and did the CT scan. Taniyah did awesome! She laid on the table and did not move! She didn't budge. They did the scan and within 15 minutes of getting there we were headed back out again. Back to the ER anyway.

When we got back from CT will was there. Marsha had called him and he left the class that he was in to come up and sit with me. About 30 minutes later, Rod showed up. Then they moved us to a different room. After 8 hours in the ER Taniyah was declared to have a MUSCLE SPASM! They said to give her motrin and follow up with her ped. if she wasn't better in a day or two.

One room down......

We got the Infant Care Room done. We did it in an underwater theme and had a lot of fun with it.

We put a shelf up above the changing table for wipes, lysol, and changing table covers.



This is the back of the door out to the sanctuary


The other part of the west facing wall.



The window looking out into the sanctuary


The big spot on the wall is for the flat screen tv that we would like to get in this room.



We frosted this window so that people outside can't look in.



A close up of the treasure chest with mirror in it.


The paint on the bottom part of the wall is sand textured.

Rod's first sermon

Rod preached his first sermon at the 8am service.

He did a great job and the message was excellent.

We were blessed to have many of our friends come out to join us - Will & Marsha and kids, Joe, Linda & Kelly, Jesse with Cadence, Cindy with her kids, and Daleen with her kids.

For those who would like a DVD they will be available in two weeks and cost $8.

After service I took pics and played around with it. Here is the result.



Here is a picture that Ladaria took of Rod and I. I didn't do anything with it.

Blue Angels

Today we went to a special showing of the Blue Angels.

It was for the Make a Wish foundation and chronically ill kids from Balboa.

There were only a few kids from Balboa that made it but we still had fun.

If you click on the first picture you can see the slideshow of pics from the airshow.





After the show the pilots came and signed pictures for the kids and took pictures.





After 5.5 hours we were headed home and Taniyah was tired but she was not going to let loose of her paper.